Line marker



JLBACK May 20, 1958 LINE MARKER Filed Jan. '7, 1957 IN VEN TOR. (/19/755 8:96 A.

5 a 1 flrraemir United States Patent 2,835,219 LINE MARKER James Back, Dayton, Ohio Application January 7, 1957, Serial No. 632,838

3 Claims. (Cl. 116-63) This invention relates to street and highway maintenance equipment, and particularly to line marking devices dropped by maintenance crews to signal the presence of freshly painted lines and of obstructions on the street or road surface.

Devices of the class described desirably incorporate a number of features, such as case of stacking so that comparatively large numbers thereof may be carried in a maintenance truck, suflicient stability that they are apt to remain erect when dropped from a moving truck and will not be toppled by wind or by air currents set up by passing trafiic, and an adaptability to handling whereby they may easily be dropped and picked up. To

these features may be added that of inexpensiveness, which becomes increasingly important as the quantities of such marking devices grows in correspondence with the growth in new highway construction and with growing service and repair requirements. Also, it is useful in a marking device as described to have the ability to resist damage when run over by a passing car.

The instant invention it is thought incorporates all of these features to a degree unmatched in the prior art, and to provide a line marking device so characterized is a principal object of the invention.

Another object of the invention is to utilize resilient deformable materials in the construction of a line marking device as described, it being an allied object in this con nection to make the device of a one piece unitary construction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a line marking device as described which when dropped may assume either one of alternate positions of rest upon the street surface, in either of which the device has a broad footing for stability and presents an upright portion of apparent visibility and meaning to approaching motorists.

Still another object of the invention is to provide for limited area contact of the marking device with the street surface in order to avoid smearing of freshly painted lines and the like.

Other objects and structural details of the invention will appear from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a line marker in accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation, showing the marker in one of its alternate positions;

Fig. 3 is a view of the marker in cross section;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the underside of the marker; and

Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation, and partly diagrammatic showing the manner in which the marker may rock to assume its alternate positions.

Referring to the drawings, a line marking device in accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a unitary, one piece body 10 adapted to rest in alternate positions, as indicated, upon the 2,835,219 Patented May 20, 1958 surface 11 of a street or road. The body 10 is made,

as by molding, from a suitable weather resistant plastic material which has the properties of flexibility and resilience. Thus, the device will yield if crushed under the wheels of a passing car and will then reassume its shape as shown.

The body is constructed as a right angle, being made up of two planar portions 12 and 13, which portions are made relatively long and broad for a stable support of the device on the surface 11. The planar portions 12 and 13 are united at adjacent, corresponding side edges thereof, and, in this region, thebody is rounded to present an upper curved surface 14 merging with what may be considered to be the upper surfaces of the planar portions 12 and 13 and to present a lower curved surface 15 merging with what may be considered to be the lower surfaces of the portions 12 and 13. Thus, the lower surface of the planar portions is that surface which in the use of the device is adjacent to and faces the supporting surface 11. As illustrated, when the device is at rest on the surface 11, in a normal position, one of the planar portions 12 or 13 extends in an upright manner at right angles to the surface 11.

The like curves 14 and 15 in the body 10 are in transverse relation to a longitudinal line at the joint or location of fusion of the adjacent side edges of the planar portions 12 and 13. At this location, they provide for a rounded contour of the body 16 without an increase or decrease in the thickness of the material. Also, the surface 15 provides a bearing for more facile rocking of the marking device to and from or between the alternate positions shown in Fig. 5. The rounded contour of the body between the planar portions: also facilitates stacking which is accomplished by placing the devices in what may be termed a nested relation, with the lower surface of one device in contacting relation to the upper surface of another device, the devices being correspondingly positioned and superposed one upon another.

The planar portions 12 and 13 are in the illustrated embodiment identically constructed and it is accordingly substantially immaterial which thereof assumes an upright position when the devices are dropped to the surface 11. Moreover, should the device be blown by wind currents from one to another of its: alternate posi tions it will continue to serve its intended purpose and will present the same appearance to an approaching motorist. Considering one of the planar portions, parts thereof may be cut away, as for example, by circular openings 16-18, to deduce the surface area of the upright portion of the body and so reduce the wind resistance thereof. Also serving this function, as well as the further function of giving a pictorial character to the marking device, are relatively deep grooves 19 and 21 and side cut-outs 22 and 23 formed in that side edge of the planar portion opposite to the edge joined with the other planar portion and extending toward such last named edge. The result of such grooves and cut-outs is to form a plurality (in the present instance 3) of projections 24 which, viewed in outline, have a conical or pyramidal shape. The several projections thus resemble a row of sharply pointed teeth. To the approaching motorist, therefore, the marking devices although entirely harmless if overrun give the appearance of something to be avoided. They are thus enabled better to serve their purpose of signaling and protecting an area of the road surface.

Finally, each of the planar portions 12 and 13 is formed on the lower surface thereof with a plurality of pads 25 formed integrally as laminations upon the lower surface of each planar portion. The pads 25 are spaced apart in an evenly distributive manner over the surface of the planar portion and occupy a relatively small part of the total area of the lower surface of such portion. The arrangement of the pads 25 may be accomplished in any convenient manner, for example in the manner illustrated wherein they comprise vertical rows, each row being made up of a first pad near the base of the planar portion or near to the junction with the other planar portion, a second pad at the apex of a tooth 24 and a third pad intermediate thetwo above mentioned.

It will be understood that the pads 25 function as feet, holding the body 10 proper of the marking device in a relatively elevated position whereby to minimize the possibility of smearing of freshly painted surfaces.

What is claimed is:

1. A line marker for streets and roads, comprising a unitary body of a resilient deformable material having a pair of planar portions at approximately right angles to one another and united at adjacent side edges, said planar portions each having upper surfaces merging at said side edges and lower surfaces merging at said adjacent side edges, said merging lower surfaces presenting a rounded contour so that the marker may readily be tilted to alternatc positions in which first one and then the other of said planar portions is in an upright position, and means projecting from the lower surface of each of said portions holding elevated from the surface of the street or road the body proper comprising said line marker, said means having the character of laminations integral with said body and spaced apart over the lower surface of each of said planar portions.

2. A line marker for streets and roads, comprising a bodyhaving planar portions at approximately right angles to one another, adjacent edges of said portions being united to define an intermediate connecting portion on which said body may rock to place each of said planar portions alternatively at rest upon the surface of the street or road and in an upright position visible to approaching motorists, cut-outs in said body lessening the wind resistance thereof, including cut-outs forming in that edge of each of said planar portions opposite the said adjacent edges thereof pointed projections suggesting sharp-edged teeth, and spaced apart feet on said marker to engage the street or road supporting surface, said feet being disposed in like manner upon each of said planar portions, there being at least one thereof positioned adjacent to said intermediate connecting portions and at least one other thereof being positioned at the tip of one of said teeth, said marker being constructed of a resilient deformable material tending to yield and to return approximately to its original configuration if overrun by a passing car, said spaced apart feet on said marker being in the form of integral laminations on the underside of said planar portions, symmetrically spaced apart on the other side of said portions to support the marker body as described.

3. A line marker for streets and roads, comprising a body having relatively angularly disposed portions to serve alternately as a base for the marker and as a visible upright, adjacent edges of said portions being united to define an intermediate connecting portion about which said body may rock to place each of said portions alternatively at rest upon the surface of the street or road and in an upright position visible to approaching motorists, said marker being constructed of a resilient deformable material tending to yield and to return approximately to its original configuration if overrun by a passing car, and spaced apart feet on said marker to engage the street or road supporting surface, said feet being arranged in like manner upon each of said angularly disposed portions, symmetrically spaced apart on the underside of said portions to support the marker body as described.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,610,422 'Ballew Sept. 16, 1952 2,790,410 Wald Apr. 30, 1957 

